National Football League

49ers' fierce hit on Campbell left mark on team;RAIDERS

Published Oct. 16, 2010 11:05 a.m. ET

foxsports

The last time Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell visited Candlestick Park, he left on a golf cart in the second quarter. He was blindsided by the Niners' Travis LaBoy in the Aug. 28 preseason game, and now the quarterback says the stinger and wrist injury might have stuck with him for a while.

Campbell returned for the season opener against Tennessee and was benched the following week after again not playing well against St. Louis. He originally said the injuries had no affect on his play.

"For a couple of weeks, it still was" bothering me, said Campbell, who will start Sunday as Bruce Gradkowski is out with a shoulder injury. "It's always in the back of your mind. Just because it was still there. It wasn't 100 percent yet. Right now, I feel 100 percent."

Campbell, acquired in the offseason from Washington to be the starter, had a solid training camp and preseason but looked jittery in his return against the Titans. He was 22-of-37 for 180 yards, fumbled twice, threw an interception and was sacked four times in the 38-13 loss.

In Week 2, he was benched at halftime against the Rams after going 8-of-15 for 87 yards with two fumbles, an interception and two sacks.

Campbell, who came in Sunday and led a comeback win over the Chargers, now says both the stinger and the wrist were bothering him.

"A little bit of both," he said. Team doctors have "done a great job so I don't have to worry about it or even think about it now."

One Raider who is thinking about Campbell's old injuries is left tackle Mario Henderson. He was the guy LaBoy beat in that Niners exhibition game, and Henderson also got Campbell laid out when he missed a block in the Titans game.

He is using the LaBoy hit as motivation.

"I am," Henderson said, "but I'm not going to let that determine how I play. I still have to go in there and just play a good game ... take it play by play."

Henderson won't have to take it series by series, as he is alternating with rookie Jared Veldheer in a very unusual left-tackle rotation. Coach Tom Cable made the move after Henderson struggled and Veldheer had a rocky opener at center.

Cable said the snaps will be split down the middle again Sunday.

"The young kid has a level of consistency that the more he plays, the better he gets," Cable said. "I think it's also raised Mario's game so it's a good thing going on right now."

It's not a long-term plan, with the loser possibly ticketed for right tackle in the future.

"It's going to sort itself out," Cable said. "I think that we're getting improvement out of both. And the real key is if we can get two players to play at a high level, then we'll find a spot for both of them."

Last-minute backups: Cable said that Gradkowski and running back Darren McFadden hamstring would be game-time decisions, as to whether they could play in backup roles against the 49ers. But those are real long shots. Kyle Boller appears set to back up Campbell.